JUNE 27, 2010. Many
years ago, when I was young and foolish and teaching high school, I had
a conversation with a student that went something like this:

“What’s
the most important ideal expressed in the Constitution?”

“Uh, I don’t
know.”

“What’s
the most important principle expressed in the Constitution?”

“Uh, government?”

“Government
isn’t a principle. Do you know what a principle is?”

“It’s
a thing that’s important.”

“Give me an
example.”

“A tree gives
you shade in the summer.”

“That’s
a general fact, not a principle.”

“Aren’t
they the same thing?”

We were standing
outside in the playground after school. Other students were gathered around.
At this point, I lost it completely, and I got up on my high horse and
delivered a short lecture. It went like this:

When you build an
office building, you give it a particular shape. If your architect says,
“Well, over here we’re not quite sure what it’ll look
like and we’re going to let the building more or less blend into
the skyscraper next door,” you know you’re in deep trouble.

As any student of
American history can see, the Constitution created a federal government
that had a certain shape. Particularly with the adoption of the 10th Amendment,
it was clear that powers not granted to the federal government were reserved
for the individual states. So there was a shape and a limit on the size
of federal authority.

Anyone with a few
working brain cells can look around today and see that this “federal
shape” has been exceeded grotesquely.

The original American
ideal has been destroyed.

It didn’t happen
overnight. The process moved degree by degree, decision by decision, deception
by deception.

In order for this
to happen, a certain kind of conversation had to remain in the background.
A conversation about ideals. About first principles.

Many people who have
promoted a “federal-government mission” to do things that
run counter to, and beyond, the original shape of the Constitution…these
people have been substituting new ideals for the ones that were carved
out during the birth of the nation. They just haven’t been talking
about it. Why should they? Their agenda works better when it operates
in the dark.

A full-on public
debate about the IDEALS OF AMERICA isn’t on their list of priorities.

A person comes along
and says, “I believe the federal government should operate on the
basis of Generosity Towards All. It should give all people whatever they
need. That’s what a kind person would do. Therefore, that’s
what a government should do. And to carry out that mandate, it should
employ whatever means are necessary, including high taxation rates. This
is an expression of love.”

The person is advocating
the destruction of the original ideals of government expressed in the
Constitution.

He’s decided
he knows what government really means. He just knows. He has a direct
pipeline to “The Universe” and the hell with the Constitution.

Somehow, he says,
underneath all those words written in the Constitution, the intent was
to have government supply all the needs of the people.

“To each according
to his needs.”

And the money for
this will come through taxation, or: “from each, according to his
ability.”

This, he says, was
truly the spirit of the Constitution.

Well, he doesn’t
actually say that. He doesn’t hold a public debate about such an
issue. He would be laughed off the stage.

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Many people just
don’t grasp the fact that the nation was founded on a few specific
ideals. Limited government. Personal liberty.

Remember the old
adage about boiling the frog slowly? The frog never noticed he was being
cooked.

Well, the founding
ideals of America have been changed by the same process. My point is,
this was made possible because large numbers of people forgot what an
ideal was. They forgot what a basic principle means. They lost track.
They no longer realized that the structure called FEDERAL GOVERNMENT had
been shaped and defined in the Constitution. They’ve developed a
severe case of amnesia about what an ideal IS.

As I say, I lost
it. When I finished my little speech, the students looked at me as if
I’d just landed my flying saucer in the schoolyard.

I picked out another
student.

I said, “We
should have a debate about what the original Americans ideals were and
what they are now.”

He said, “Uh,
the government exists to help people.”

“No. That’s
not why government exists.”

“The government
is a helper. It gives people what they need.”

“Where did
you get that idea?”

“I don’t
know. My brother.”

Losing it again,
I said, “Is your brother Thomas Jefferson?”

“Thomas Jefferson?
Didn’t he…no, that was somebody else.”

“What’s
an ideal?”

“My girlfriend
has an ideal body.”

“What’s
a principle?”

“It’s
a law.”

“What kind
of law?”

“It says you
can’t do certain things.”

“Give me an
example.”

“You can’t
smoke in class.”

“If you were
in charge of the government, what principle would you put at the top of
your list?”

“The government
has to help people.”

“Okay. How
would the government help people?”

“They would
give them what they need.”

“Money?”

“Sometimes.”

“Where would
the government get that money?”

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“The government
has money.”

“The government
just has it?”

“Yeah. They
have a lot of money.”

That conversation
took place 56 years ago. It started me thinking that perhaps education
was part of the problem. Just a wild guess.

Jon
Rappoport has worked as an investigative reporter for 30 years. Nominated
for a Pulitzer Prize early in his career, Jon has published articles on
medical fraud, politics, alternative health, and sports in LA Weekly,
CBS Healthwatch, Spin, Stern, and other magazines and newspapers in the
US and Europe.

He
is the is author of several books, including The Secret Behind Secret
Societies and The Magic Agent (a novel).

Jon
is the author of a new course for home schoolers, LOGIC AND ANALYSIS.